


What Would You Do If I Sang Out Of Tune?

by xbleeple



Category: Sanctuary (TV)
Genre: F/M, Post Series, Pre series, Soulmate AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-06
Updated: 2019-04-06
Packaged: 2020-01-31 08:01:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,435
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18587110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xbleeple/pseuds/xbleeple
Summary: Nikola finds himself with some songs stuck in his head.





	What Would You Do If I Sang Out Of Tune?

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tinknevertalks](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tinknevertalks/gifts).



> Prompt - the one where whenever you get a song stuck in your head, it’s because your soulmate is singing it

At first Nikola thinks that it’s a coincidence. He happens to have the same song that Helen is humming stuck in his head. No big deal. She must have been mumbling along to it earlier and he didn’t notice. They’d been working together all day, it was an easy explanation.

He finds his tendency to catch earwigs has increased since he’d met her. And sometimes the tunes are completely non-sensical.

It’s not until the day he starts humming along in perfect sync to a lullaby her mother used to sing her that they realize something isn’t exactly right.

“Where did you hear that?” Helen asks as she looks at him across the work table, her blue eyes wide.

“What do you mean where did I hear that? You were singing it.”

“Whispering it at best,” She corrects as she sets her tools down, “Where did you hear that song?”

“ _From you_ ,” Nikola reiterates. The two bicker back and forth until James and John return and Nikola snaps his mouth shut, walking over to one of the other tables. She gives him one last look before turning her attention to John as he inquires to her plans for the evening.

When she gets home later that evening she shuts the door softly behind herself, happy to find the house quiet. She pauses when she gets upstairs and hears a quiet humming coming from her father’s office. She looks in and smiles when she sees him scribbling away in his journal, humming along to a tune in his head. Pulling the door shut she continues down the hall towards her room, but pauses when she walks by her parents’ room and hears her mother singing quietly. She closes her eyes and rubs her forehead when she hears the exact same song.

“No, no, no, no, no,” She whispers to herself as she finishes her walk to her room. It wasn’t supposed to be Nikola. She was dating John. She loved John. Nikola was her friend. He was like the annoying little brother she never had.

He wasn’t…he couldn’t…could he?

The next time they’re in the lab alone Nikola tosses a ball of paper across the table at her, making Helen snap back and give him an unamused look. He offers her a soft smile and walks around to pick up the ball from the floor. He tosses it back and forth as he clears his throat before opening and closing his mouth a couple of times.

“I know that you and John…” He trails off, “The other day…It doesn’t have to mean anything, okay? There are plenty of people that don’t bond with their…”

“Don’t say it,” Helen interrupts, not entirely ready to face the truth, “Please.”

“My point is, things can just stay the way they are,” Nikola says, enclosing the paper ball in one hand, “Just…nothing too annoying, hmm?”

“I’ll try,” She whispers with a small smile on her lips. He smiles back before turning away to throw the paper in the trash and returning to their work.

When he fakes his death and goes into hiding the music makes him feel close to her even through their self imposed separation. He lives through the lullabies of the late 80s feeling like a knife had stabbed him in the heart each time one pops into his head. And it’s not terribly difficult to find her in Italy when she takes an evening to herself and plops herself in the audience of an opera that had just opened the week before.

For the most part she’s kept up on her end of the bargain and kept the ‘annoying’ songs to a minimum. But if the one that’s currently stuck in his head is any indication, that agreement is about to be broken.

Nikola frowns as he storms through the Underground Sanctuary, the wood heels of his shoes thunking firmly against the tile flooring. A few jump out of his way as they realize that he was on a mission, shooting each other concerned looks. He slams open the door and bursts into Helen’s office, “Would you stop with that bloody song already!”

“I was wondering how long it was going to take you,” Helen comments as she presses the pause button on her keyboard.

“I suffered through the Beatles, but I _refuse_ to listen to that drivel!”

“How else was I supposed to get you to talk to me, Nikola?” She asks as she gets up from her seat and walks around to the other side of her desk. She sighs as he steps back as she steps forward. She does it once more before snapping at him, “Nikola!”

“What!?”

“It’s been seven months, will you please just talk to me?” She begs. While he had stayed at the Sanctuary once he’d been let in on the secret, he had barely said more than two words to her in that time.

“What do you want me to say?!” He yells at her, finally losing his cool, “Huh?!”

“I know I…I should have said _something_ ,” Helen replies, her brow furrowing at Nikola’s reaction. She’d never seen him this way, “But look…”

“NO! _You_ look,” He cuts her off, stepping closer to her to use the two inches he had on her to tower menacingly as his eyes darken, “I heard _nothing_ for eight days! I’ve spent over a century listening to your little soundtrack. I had to listen to lullabies for a child that wasn’t mine. Here Comes the Sun makes me want to vomit. And if I ever hear that waltz again I’ll light myself on fire.”

“Nik…”

“As annoying and heart breaking as it was I could still hear it,” He whispers as he looks down at her, “Every day. And then it just stopped.”

Helen doesn’t say anything as she presses up on her toes before capturing Nikola’s lips in a kiss. Her hands rest on his hips and she pulls him closer as she deepens the kiss, losing herself for a moment. She pulls back and softens further when she sees pained blue staring back at her.

“It was so quiet,” He swallows.

“I’m sorry,” She apologizes on her own whisper. She lifts her hand and strokes his cheek softly before her thumb trails along the line of his jaw, “I’m so sorry for everything. I never should have…I never should have done a lot of things.”

“I can’t do this anymore,” He tells her, “I cannot keep listening to a life I’ll never be a part of.”

“I’m offering for you to be a part of it,” Helen offers as her hand drops down to rest on his chest, her thumb brushing along the edge of his lapel, “I will be the first to admit that I haven’t been fair to you by a long shot. But I do love you Nikola.”

“Helen, I…” Nikola starts to interrupt, pausing when her hand covers his mouth. Her eyes bore into his and he hears a song start to reverberate throughout his mind. The tune is familiar and warm. He has heard it often as background noise, but he’d never made any association with it. She presses the song firmly into his head until it ignites a memory.

Laughter is the first thing he hears in conjunction with the music. Then he’s immersed in the memory of twirling Helen playfully across the floor of the Magnus’ living room as music played from the phonograph in the corner. He remembers her laughter and her hand in his. They weren’t supposed to be alone but her father had been called away and the others still hadn’t arrived at the house. He remembers catching her, steadying her after a stumble, their faces close. They looked at each other’s lips and leaned infinitesimally closer only to jump apart when they hear the front door clatter open, announcing the arrival of the rest of their friends.

Helen pulls away and presses her lips to his once more, running her fingers through his hair as she pulls him closer. Her hands trail down his back and she tightens her grip on him as her arms wrap around his waist. She breaks their kiss and looks up at him, her lips still brushing against his as she speaks, “I love you, Nikola Tesla. I will always love you.”

“You mean that?” He asks.

“Very much so,” She assures him, “So are we okay?”

“We’re on our way,” He nods.

“Good,” She smiles and hugs him close once more, resting her cheek on his shoulder, “Good.”


End file.
